Again, my personal belief is around 500k - 700k sales todate. With a 30% retention rate that means a range of around 150k - 210k current subscribers. If that is anywhere near accurate I do not believe it will be enough to sustain the game. This would lend credence to the reports of various fires being lit under peoples asses at ZOS with apparently the console release delay being part 1 of a list of damage control actions.....
Why would the sales be so low when it had a few millions beta registrations? Unless most of the registrations are from console players, it should be higher than what you listed there. The game had a lot of marketing and visibility.
I think if they had sold over 1 million, however they had to slice and dice that number, we would have seen "ESO sells over a million copies" type marketing all over the net. Just like with every other game.
The fact we have not seen that type of marketing hype tells me they have sold less than 1 million. Personal / anecdotal experience tells me the game has not sold amazingly. Not a single person in my gaming circle is playing for example, which is unusual.
Having said that, with the IP that they have, I cannot believe the numbers would be less than 500k because that would be an unmitigated disaster.
So maybe giving the benefit of the doubt I could potenetially revise my original statement to >500k but <1000000....which puts in the middle ground of 700 - 750k sales. If that is anywhere near accurate, as I said, we then apply a circa 30% retention rate and I do not believe that figure of 200k - 300k subs will be enough long term.
Where on earth do you get this notion of a 30% retention rate, did you just make that number up?
No, whilst I do not have some form of definitive source, it IS a well know fact in the industry that on average an MMO has a retention rate of around 30% post launch...if you google the numbers of most MMOs launched over the last decade this would be evident. If you search this very forum you will see that the 30% statistic is widely accepted as accurate.
I do not think that it makes sense to say that ESOs retention rate is 30% just because the estimated average is about 30%, and with all the respect, a forum is not a viable option for gathering KPIs. What you could do is to gather data on platforms like XFIRE and compare player numbers to derive retention rates, but these numbers should not be considered the truth. It would just be a guesstimate based upon real numbers. And keep in mind that these numbers srongly fluctuate at the moment.
When it comes to ESO, I believe we will see a much higher retention rate than 30%. The game is very polarizing. The game seems to consist of haters or fanbois and it feels like there are not many people inbetween. For a MMORPG this is not a bad thing, because the remaining players often become longterm players. The question arising is, if the remaining player number suffices to maintain and further develop the game - I hope and think so.
too much of a single player experience....i like group games not single player games.
Good luck in finding that type of mmorpg in todays standards, welcome to the era of console gaming and instant gratification. The days of getting a group to accomplish goals is over, no one has patience for that anymore.
Right? But with TESO though, its like lacking the MMO part.
Grouping is totally up to you. One of the best ways I have found to make friends for grouping is running instanced dungeons and friending players you are good with. Another great way is to farm public group dungeons with the same people. The problem here is that at lower levels farming public group dungeons does not make that much sense.
One thing you should also consider is that ESO has got a flat learning curve at the beginning that quickly gets steeper as soon as you reach Veteran Ranks.
1-50 Easy difficulty. Enjoy the Story and get into the game.
VR1-4: Difficulty rises and doing things with other players becomes more common.
VR5+: Difficulty becomes challenging. Special attacks of normal NPCs can easily drop your health to 30%. World Boss abilities can one shot you if you do not dodge them. Even in standard quests players start to run together.
ESO is a slow paced game. As a DAoC veteran with easily 3 months until his first character (Shadowblade ^^) reached 50, I can live with it and enjoy the beuatiful world Zenimax created for us.
Not a single update. They've only fixed quests (which should've worked from the beginning) and some other very small hotfixes.
ESO is definately not worth a monthly sub. A month here and there when they do release updates, the content isn't coming as it should be.
Agree
As i said for other games too, aspects of the game (like combat, animations, graphics, PvE/PvP orientation, content style etc) are up to personal tastes and counts to a player decision to buy a game or not.
But when it comes to keep paying the sub, then quality / pace of content addition is what matters the most. As much as someone likes a game, he doesn't like to repeat the same content over and over, until a patch arrives every 3 to 6 months or even more. Ppl get bored quickly and games must deliver quality content in short periods. At least if they want to maintain a good retention or even help the game grow more.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1 Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
Not a single update. They've only fixed quests (which should've worked from the beginning) and some other very small hotfixes.
ESO is definately not worth a monthly sub. A month here and there when they do release updates, the content isn't coming as it should be.
Agree
As i said for other games too, aspects of the game (like combat, animations, graphics, PvE/PvP orientation, content style etc) are up to personal tastes and counts to a player decision to buy a game or not.
But when it comes to keep paying the sub, then quality / pace of content addition is what matters the most. As much as someone likes a game, he doesn't like to repeat the same content over and over, until a patch arrives every 3 to 6 months or even more. Ppl get bored quickly and games must deliver quality content in short periods. At least if they want to maintain a good retention or even help the game grow more.
I don't know of any MMO on the market now or coming out in the near future that adds new content regularly every month, including one that has just launched. So, does that mean there's no MMO that warrants a sub? WoW is the most successful of them all and I can't remember the last time they added new content. Heck, FFXIV is a solid game and just released last September and it was almost 3 months before they added any new content.
I think the players who run out of stuff to do are the power gamers who rush to level cap within a day or two. These games today aren't being designed/catered to those players. Its about the casual player who only has an hour or two a day to play. I used to have lots of time that I could spend 8-10hrs a day logged into a game but not anymore. Here I am, over a month after launch, playing a level 38 sorcerer, working my way to 50. The game is worth the sub to me and if new content isn't added until next month, I'm fine with it.
They have flying cheaters all over the place, even in PvP...
And thousands of bots... no anti cheat mechanic, bugs galore...
The solo PvE part is decent unless you are unlucky with bugs but after you are done with that there is no reason to stay... 1/3 of my guild already unsubbed and most of the ones that stayed said on vent that its only until they get to VR10.
Besides, unless you have a speed hack yourself you can`t compete with the bots/cheaters... so why bother.
too much of a single player experience....i like group games not single player games.
Good luck in finding that type of mmorpg in todays standards, welcome to the era of console gaming and instant gratification. The days of getting a group to accomplish goals is over, no one has patience for that anymore.
I disagree. That's the crap the companies are spooning out, even though it results in flash initial numbers, huge drop-offs, and eventual selling out to F2P.
I think there is plenty of market for people who want real MMORPGs - developers just need to be content with being niche, having a stable subscriber figure that's not as flashy (but is sustainable), and to stop trying to cater to the brainless ADD crowd that is definitely abundant.
PS - Poll is missing the "It was clear the game was going to suck from beta so never purchased to begin with" option.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
Originally posted by evilized Cancelled - 56.8% Subbed - 43.2%
This is with the "show me results" removed and numbers actualized.
It'll get worse in the next few months - just like it does with ALL modern/WoW clone pseudo-MMORPGs (heavily solo, fake/meaningless PvP minigames, not nearly enough grouping MMORPGs) and then it'll go F2P.
None of this is surprising since ESO is a typical formula of fail (WoW clone) pseudo-MMORPG. A lot of the game is designed for single player, as usual, and those people aren't going to stick - they just play thru the easy solo content and bail. Same old same old. If you do this spectacularly (have REALLY big initial sales and a REALLY huge dropoff in a very short amount of time I call it SWTORing, since it pretty much epitomized the dramatic potential of the formula of fail).
The lame designs of modern MMORPGs not only yield far lower quality players but also yield similarly fail developers - because they keep coming up with these games that are all the same and somehow think THEY can be the ones who make clone that won't fail.
Next in line for the failboat express, WildStar! EQN is further down the line and SOE already knows it's too incompetent to make a game worth a sub so they're just going full retard with admitting they're fail from the start and going F2P at release - shortcutting the sequence of fail in the formula of fail - but you have to credit them for knowing they're making fail.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
quit vr2. became too grindy and time-intensive. did all quests, next zone - vr3 zone, did a few, was soloing because well everyone was all over the place in levels in my guild. those who were vr pvped all day and my play times were usually at night to in the morning.
all in all, many bugs, saw bots everywhere, infinite spawn resource nodes, imbalance of vampires, solo play experience, lag. unfinished game. released too early.
I liked the combat but in vr it got really tedious and what I hate , really hate is when you walk around somewhere and there's adds everywhere. you can't just not fight, and that sucked in vr.
will see if it goes f2p in a year, if not uhm idk, not sure. quality will probably improve.
EU servers in USA was another point.
then I had the issue of my having deleted the CE maps because they used up so much space. Asked them to restore them, they wanted the answer to my secret question, I didn't give it to them and blah. A week passed, no resolution, thanks for the fish.
why do they even know the answer to my secret question? That is no one's business, especially not some CS employee in who knows where.
played closed beta 4 day and liked game. been playing another game and get a bit bored so i sub teso and played 1 hour... get bored in 1 hour. combat feels a bit crap, too much traveling, TOO MANY BOT!!! i was not able find craft materials becouse bots move lighting speed and collect all materials! humanoid mob drops 1 gold... really? was not able sell cooking materials like in beta:S i just dint feeled hooked.
i love elder scroll games but TESO is not great game. bow combat still feels like shooting magic arrows, dont feel realistic like in skyrim. cancelled sub in 2 hour.
They have flying cheaters all over the place, even in PvP...
And thousands of bots... no anti cheat mechanic, bugs galore...
The solo PvE part is decent unless you are unlucky with bugs but after you are done with that there is no reason to stay... 1/3 of my guild already unsubbed and most of the ones that stayed said on vent that its only until they get to VR10.
Besides, unless you have a speed hack yourself you can`t compete with the bots/cheaters... so why bother.
/agreed at 100%, this game is FULL of Cheaters, hackers, bots everywhere.
but don't forget the rollbacks. Last one made me canceling my sub.
Originally posted by evilized Cancelled - 56.8% Subbed - 43.2%
This is with the "show me results" removed and numbers actualized.
Next in line for the failboat express, WildStar! EQN is further down the line and SOE already knows it's too incompetent to make a game worth a sub so they're just going full retard with admitting they're fail from the start and going F2P at release - shortcutting the sequence of fail in the formula of fail - but you have to credit them for knowing they're making fail.
Kinda hard to say already, but the mightier will fall a lot harder, that is true.
With Wildstar we will have an idea a month after launch and will know 3 months after. Actually looks better than I expected right now but that can change fast.
And with ESO there is still the chance that Zenimax can turn things around. Not something easy because the main problem with the game is really the idiotic phasing even if bots and bugs still are a big issue as well but it is far from impossible.
Originally posted by evilized Cancelled - 56.8% Subbed - 43.2%
This is with the "show me results" removed and numbers actualized.
Next in line for the failboat express, WildStar! EQN is further down the line and SOE already knows it's too incompetent to make a game worth a sub so they're just going full retard with admitting they're fail from the start and going F2P at release - shortcutting the sequence of fail in the formula of fail - but you have to credit them for knowing they're making fail.
Wildstar will be just fine.
I don't think any game can fail as bad as ESO....
I can't wait for WIldstar to come out so the content locusts who fail a game for not feeding them can move on to there.
ESO's core problem isn't even content related though, so while I'd usually be happy enough to bash the locusts they're not to blame this time.
ZOS simply fail to provide their service in a professional manner and slapping a premium price plus sub fee on it when there are plenty of matured b2p/p2p games around certainly didn't help. The various payment issues, the sorry state of the so-called EU server, excessive downtimes for maintenance and miniscule patches, terrible testing of said patches, horrible CS, complete failure to protect against all sorts of cheaters and hackers* while at the same time banning droves of innocent players, extremely slow pace at fixing bugs, and so on and so on.
It's not 2004 anymore and given the fierce competition on the MMO market that's just not acceptable. All those issues are solely on ZOS ( and possibly their parent company ), not on any group of players.
*Current business model is to send hordes of lvl 2 bots teleporting between quest npcs and quest targets in Coldharbour ( lvl 40-50 zone ), presumably for the cash reward.
Surprisingly. after Craglorn, i think im going to cancel my subs, as it was supposed to be the end game, but instead, it's a massive grind, and the end content map just too laggy and keeps booting out players, its quite disastrous though, but maybe ill be back in 2-3 months time,
generally i like the game, just, i dont know, i cant enjoy it after i completed 2 Alliance's story.
I can't wait for WIldstar to come out so the content locusts who fail a game for not feeding them can move on to there.
For all intents and purposes there are no TESO posters. Amd checking Reddit its not just on mmorpg.com either.
Nor is Wildstar much better; even less buzz than TESO had pre-launch.
Maybe people no longer post!
At least Zenimax will "protect" their ES brand - although it doesn't follow that this will result in lots of new content, they may focus on the next ES title as Square Ennix has (essentially) done with Final Fantasy. (FFXiV fixed but the future is FFXV.)
Wildstar however ....... well NCSoft have acted decisely in the past when games haven't made it; Tabula Rasa - 16 months only.
At least Zenimax will "protect" their ES brand - although it doesn't follow that this will result in lots of new content, they may focus on the next ES title as Square Ennix has (essentially) done with Final Fantasy. (FFXiV fixed but the future is FFXV.)
I've wondered for a while what the future holds for the single-player ES games in light of TESO. I imagine the last thing they want would be to lure those who are really more satisfied with the single-player RPG away from TESO subs. Even the hint of a new game coming might be detrimental to new sales.
But if they don't then TESO would have to become the torch-bearer for ES games.
At least Zenimax will "protect" their ES brand - although it doesn't follow that this will result in lots of new content, they may focus on the next ES title as Square Ennix has (essentially) done with Final Fantasy. (FFXiV fixed but the future is FFXV.)
I've wondered for a while what the future holds for the single-player ES games in light of TESO. I imagine the last thing they want would be to lure those who are really more satisfied with the single-player RPG away from TESO subs. Even the hint of a new game coming might be detrimental to new sales.
But if they don't then TESO would have to become the torch-bearer for ES games.
Dont worry, whether ESO succeeds or not should not have any effect on the single player Elder Scrolls games, different developers and companies involved, Bethesda are the ones that make the Single player games, and Zenimax are the ones who tried to make an MMO. If there is any influence on the single player games, it will probably of the 'what not to do' variety, of course the danger is that people won't realise that they are entirely seperate and try to tar Bethesda with the Zenimax 'brush'
At least Zenimax will "protect" their ES brand - although it doesn't follow that this will result in lots of new content, they may focus on the next ES title as Square Ennix has (essentially) done with Final Fantasy. (FFXiV fixed but the future is FFXV.)
I've wondered for a while what the future holds for the single-player ES games in light of TESO. I imagine the last thing they want would be to lure those who are really more satisfied with the single-player RPG away from TESO subs. Even the hint of a new game coming might be detrimental to new sales.
But if they don't then TESO would have to become the torch-bearer for ES games.
Dont worry, whether ESO succeeds or not should not have any effect on the single player Elder Scrolls games, different developers and companies involved, Bethesda are the ones that make the Single player games, and Zenimax are the ones who tried to make an MMO. If there is any influence on the single player games, it will probably of the 'what not to do' variety, of course the danger is that people won't realise that they are entirely seperate and try to tar Bethesda with the Zenimax 'brush'
I agree.
And whilst ZOS and Bethseda are different studios they are both owned by Zenimax Media - who own the brand. I believe they will do whatever they feel needs to be done to protect the brand.
Thing to look for: "merging" of the two studios under a single VP ......
Comments
I do not think that it makes sense to say that ESOs retention rate is 30% just because the estimated average is about 30%, and with all the respect, a forum is not a viable option for gathering KPIs. What you could do is to gather data on platforms like XFIRE and compare player numbers to derive retention rates, but these numbers should not be considered the truth. It would just be a guesstimate based upon real numbers. And keep in mind that these numbers srongly fluctuate at the moment.
When it comes to ESO, I believe we will see a much higher retention rate than 30%. The game is very polarizing. The game seems to consist of haters or fanbois and it feels like there are not many people inbetween. For a MMORPG this is not a bad thing, because the remaining players often become longterm players. The question arising is, if the remaining player number suffices to maintain and further develop the game - I hope and think so.
Grouping is totally up to you. One of the best ways I have found to make friends for grouping is running instanced dungeons and friending players you are good with. Another great way is to farm public group dungeons with the same people. The problem here is that at lower levels farming public group dungeons does not make that much sense.
One thing you should also consider is that ESO has got a flat learning curve at the beginning that quickly gets steeper as soon as you reach Veteran Ranks.
1-50 Easy difficulty. Enjoy the Story and get into the game.
VR1-4: Difficulty rises and doing things with other players becomes more common.
VR5+: Difficulty becomes challenging. Special attacks of normal NPCs can easily drop your health to 30%. World Boss abilities can one shot you if you do not dodge them. Even in standard quests players start to run together.
ESO is a slow paced game. As a DAoC veteran with easily 3 months until his first character (Shadowblade ^^) reached 50, I can live with it and enjoy the beuatiful world Zenimax created for us.
Agree
As i said for other games too, aspects of the game (like combat, animations, graphics, PvE/PvP orientation, content style etc) are up to personal tastes and counts to a player decision to buy a game or not.
But when it comes to keep paying the sub, then quality / pace of content addition is what matters the most. As much as someone likes a game, he doesn't like to repeat the same content over and over, until a patch arrives every 3 to 6 months or even more. Ppl get bored quickly and games must deliver quality content in short periods. At least if they want to maintain a good retention or even help the game grow more.
All Time Favorites: EQ1, WoW, EvE, GW1
Playing Now: WoW, ESO, GW2
I don't know of any MMO on the market now or coming out in the near future that adds new content regularly every month, including one that has just launched. So, does that mean there's no MMO that warrants a sub? WoW is the most successful of them all and I can't remember the last time they added new content. Heck, FFXIV is a solid game and just released last September and it was almost 3 months before they added any new content.
I think the players who run out of stuff to do are the power gamers who rush to level cap within a day or two. These games today aren't being designed/catered to those players. Its about the casual player who only has an hour or two a day to play. I used to have lots of time that I could spend 8-10hrs a day logged into a game but not anymore. Here I am, over a month after launch, playing a level 38 sorcerer, working my way to 50. The game is worth the sub to me and if new content isn't added until next month, I'm fine with it.
Subbed - 43.2%
This is with the "show me results" removed and numbers actualized.
They have flying cheaters all over the place, even in PvP...
And thousands of bots... no anti cheat mechanic, bugs galore...
The solo PvE part is decent unless you are unlucky with bugs but after you are done with that there is no reason to stay... 1/3 of my guild already unsubbed and most of the ones that stayed said on vent that its only until they get to VR10.
Besides, unless you have a speed hack yourself you can`t compete with the bots/cheaters... so why bother.
The Maximum number of people per guild = 500
Nice troll.
Resubbed because they have been making good progress with gold sellers, bots, and cheaters.
Not perfect mind you, I still get "item purchased" in game mail from one of the gold seller websites, but it is improving.
So they get another month.
I disagree. That's the crap the companies are spooning out, even though it results in flash initial numbers, huge drop-offs, and eventual selling out to F2P.
I think there is plenty of market for people who want real MMORPGs - developers just need to be content with being niche, having a stable subscriber figure that's not as flashy (but is sustainable), and to stop trying to cater to the brainless ADD crowd that is definitely abundant.
PS - Poll is missing the "It was clear the game was going to suck from beta so never purchased to begin with" option.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
It'll get worse in the next few months - just like it does with ALL modern/WoW clone pseudo-MMORPGs (heavily solo, fake/meaningless PvP minigames, not nearly enough grouping MMORPGs) and then it'll go F2P.
None of this is surprising since ESO is a typical formula of fail (WoW clone) pseudo-MMORPG. A lot of the game is designed for single player, as usual, and those people aren't going to stick - they just play thru the easy solo content and bail. Same old same old. If you do this spectacularly (have REALLY big initial sales and a REALLY huge dropoff in a very short amount of time I call it SWTORing, since it pretty much epitomized the dramatic potential of the formula of fail).
The lame designs of modern MMORPGs not only yield far lower quality players but also yield similarly fail developers - because they keep coming up with these games that are all the same and somehow think THEY can be the ones who make clone that won't fail.
Next in line for the failboat express, WildStar! EQN is further down the line and SOE already knows it's too incompetent to make a game worth a sub so they're just going full retard with admitting they're fail from the start and going F2P at release - shortcutting the sequence of fail in the formula of fail - but you have to credit them for knowing they're making fail.
Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.
quit vr2. became too grindy and time-intensive. did all quests, next zone - vr3 zone, did a few, was soloing because well everyone was all over the place in levels in my guild. those who were vr pvped all day and my play times were usually at night to in the morning.
all in all, many bugs, saw bots everywhere, infinite spawn resource nodes, imbalance of vampires, solo play experience, lag. unfinished game. released too early.
I liked the combat but in vr it got really tedious and what I hate , really hate is when you walk around somewhere and there's adds everywhere. you can't just not fight, and that sucked in vr.
will see if it goes f2p in a year, if not uhm idk, not sure. quality will probably improve.
EU servers in USA was another point.
then I had the issue of my having deleted the CE maps because they used up so much space. Asked them to restore them, they wanted the answer to my secret question, I didn't give it to them and blah. A week passed, no resolution, thanks for the fish.
why do they even know the answer to my secret question? That is no one's business, especially not some CS employee in who knows where.
the main story was uhm well, not very epic.
I did have fun tho for a while.
played closed beta 4 day and liked game. been playing another game and get a bit bored so i sub teso and played 1 hour... get bored in 1 hour. combat feels a bit crap, too much traveling, TOO MANY BOT!!! i was not able find craft materials becouse bots move lighting speed and collect all materials! humanoid mob drops 1 gold... really? was not able sell cooking materials like in beta:S i just dint feeled hooked.
i love elder scroll games but TESO is not great game. bow combat still feels like shooting magic arrows, dont feel realistic like in skyrim. cancelled sub in 2 hour.
Currently game is not whort of sub.
/agreed at 100%, this game is FULL of Cheaters, hackers, bots everywhere.
but don't forget the rollbacks. Last one made me canceling my sub.
LOL
Wildstar will be just fine.
I don't think any game can fail as bad as ESO....
Kinda hard to say already, but the mightier will fall a lot harder, that is true.
With Wildstar we will have an idea a month after launch and will know 3 months after. Actually looks better than I expected right now but that can change fast.
And with ESO there is still the chance that Zenimax can turn things around. Not something easy because the main problem with the game is really the idiotic phasing even if bots and bugs still are a big issue as well but it is far from impossible.
I can't wait for WIldstar to come out so the content locusts who fail a game for not feeding them can move on to there.
ESO's core problem isn't even content related though, so while I'd usually be happy enough to bash the locusts they're not to blame this time.
ZOS simply fail to provide their service in a professional manner and slapping a premium price plus sub fee on it when there are plenty of matured b2p/p2p games around certainly didn't help. The various payment issues, the sorry state of the so-called EU server, excessive downtimes for maintenance and miniscule patches, terrible testing of said patches, horrible CS, complete failure to protect against all sorts of cheaters and hackers* while at the same time banning droves of innocent players, extremely slow pace at fixing bugs, and so on and so on.
It's not 2004 anymore and given the fierce competition on the MMO market that's just not acceptable. All those issues are solely on ZOS ( and possibly their parent company ), not on any group of players.
*Current business model is to send hordes of lvl 2 bots teleporting between quest npcs and quest targets in Coldharbour ( lvl 40-50 zone ), presumably for the cash reward.
Surprisingly. after Craglorn, i think im going to cancel my subs, as it was supposed to be the end game, but instead, it's a massive grind, and the end content map just too laggy and keeps booting out players, its quite disastrous though, but maybe ill be back in 2-3 months time,
generally i like the game, just, i dont know, i cant enjoy it after i completed 2 Alliance's story.
So What Now?
For all intents and purposes there are no TESO posters. Amd checking Reddit its not just on mmorpg.com either.
Nor is Wildstar much better; even less buzz than TESO had pre-launch.
Maybe people no longer post!
At least Zenimax will "protect" their ES brand - although it doesn't follow that this will result in lots of new content, they may focus on the next ES title as Square Ennix has (essentially) done with Final Fantasy. (FFXiV fixed but the future is FFXV.)
Wildstar however ....... well NCSoft have acted decisely in the past when games haven't made it; Tabula Rasa - 16 months only.
I've wondered for a while what the future holds for the single-player ES games in light of TESO. I imagine the last thing they want would be to lure those who are really more satisfied with the single-player RPG away from TESO subs. Even the hint of a new game coming might be detrimental to new sales.
But if they don't then TESO would have to become the torch-bearer for ES games.
Dont worry, whether ESO succeeds or not should not have any effect on the single player Elder Scrolls games, different developers and companies involved, Bethesda are the ones that make the Single player games, and Zenimax are the ones who tried to make an MMO. If there is any influence on the single player games, it will probably of the 'what not to do' variety, of course the danger is that people won't realise that they are entirely seperate and try to tar Bethesda with the Zenimax 'brush'
I agree.
And whilst ZOS and Bethseda are different studios they are both owned by Zenimax Media - who own the brand. I believe they will do whatever they feel needs to be done to protect the brand.
Thing to look for: "merging" of the two studios under a single VP ......